Come Wayward Souls
by ZeeProfessor
Summary: How did the Beast become the beast, was he just an older brother with responsibilities? (Sets way before the show)
1. Cold Winter

Come Wayward Souls

The forest was calm, quiet and peaceful, animals hibernating as snow raked what life was left, trees, bushes and the like. A pale wasteland, though beautiful in its own ways.

The frigid teeth of winter could not penetrate the stone and mortar of the cozy tavern however. Sheets of ice and snow layered around it, and frost covered the windows, illuminated by the bright warmth coming from inside.

And in the silent howling of the storm, drunken laughter and shouts could be heard, echoing through the trees, like an alarm of life.

"Come on Ben! We'll be late if we stay here!" A young youth called out to his elder brother, who was on the podium, just finishing up a small musical number with several others. The tall, lanky boy looked at the shorted, obviously annoyed and rolled his eyes. He had always had to drag his younger brother here because, well. He couldn't leave him alone during the winter. What if the cabin's roof caved in from the weight of the snow and crushed the boy.

He said his farewells to the others, grabbing their cloaks and jackets and began starting outside but paused.

"Wilf, did you see where the wood is?" He looked around only to have the younger walk up, dozens of branches strapped to his back.

"Got it." It was obvious that he was struggling under the weight.

"Wilf, I could carry that if you're tired." He reached to take the branches from his sibling only to have his hand smacked away.

"Nay! It is my burden to carry, you have your own things to carry too." He signaled to the axe and lantern. "You're the one that leads the way!"

Ben paused, frowning but started to smile, his brother learning responsibilities.

"Fine then, but next time I'll let you carry the lantern." Ben laughed, heading out into the frigid, howling wind.

Wilf followed him, trudging through the snow, the snow going higher than the boy's waist but began tailgating his taller brother and followed the partial uncovered path


	2. The Unknown

"Oh come on Ben, have you just been scared all your life of this place?" The sweet soft voice, she barely raised it above a whisper, hence her nickname, Whispers. Echoed through the trees, dripping with a teasing tone.

"N-no. Don't be ridiculous! It's just twigs and leaves." He responded to the young girl beside him. Normally that would be true but he guessed it was either them or she couldn't see the pairs of eyes staring at them, hungry and waiting to pounce.

The girl's mischievous eyes sparkled with amusement.

"Then go first! If you're not scared then go ahead." She smirked, leaning against a tree and folded her arms across her chest. Giving him a teasing glance. Which was returned with an annoyed glare and followed with an eye roll. "Fine…" Ben stood at the edge of the woods. His legs protested as he set to his mind to walking through the darkness. He glanced behind him. "You coming?" He gave a smug smirk as he stepped through the shade of the trees.

Whispers began following him with a playful nudge and looked around. "See, this is not so bad?" She smirked. "Yeah I guess…" Ben rubbed his arm, his eyes seemed be still concerned as the shadows seemed to move around the underbrush.

He wasn't really scared of the forest itself, yet not much of its creatures either, but he just didn't want to get _lost…_ That was his biggest fear. He could starve, die of cold during the winter nights, or break a leg and get trapped to rot.

He must have been in a trance because when he snapped back to reality, they were further down the path.

"Well, we're here." Whispers muttered, mostly to herself and went behind a thick wall of vines to lead to a river. He quickly caught up to her and looked around, it had been snowing just here, freezing a small pond that the river led to.

Ahead where the river was the deepest was a water mill, attached to small wooden log cabin. "It's an oilmill, my father used to own this, he'd chop down trees and turn the branches into oil." Whispers turned to him. "I'd figure since you and brother's house is not in great shape and when it starts snowing more often the roof will cave in. So, you're welcome to stay here. It's not that far from town."

Ben simply nodded his head, idly listening to her as he stared back into the forest. "Thank you… I'll try to fix our own roof soon enough so we won't stay here forever."

As it began to get dark Whispers bid her goodbye and began to head home. "I'll keep Wilf at my house, by the time he got to the edge of the forest, there might be wolves out. Stay safe and don't forget to lock the doors and windows." She smirked. "Who knows, one of your shadows might creep in." She mused and left.

…

As Ben lay on the old wooden bed, he glanced outside.

_I'm just imagining things… Nothing is out there, if anything, I could be the predator the one the animals are scared of. _He thought to himself and gave a silent chuckle before curling up into sleep.

However… outside, a single soul lurked out there, watching his every move.

_"__I think I found my Beast…"_


	3. Chapter 3

**This is just a quick note. **

**So sorry I haven't been really posting recently, I haven't been able to get on the computer unless it was for schoolwork. **

**Hopefully by Wednesday I'll be able to post a new chapter, along with another fanfiction for Gears if War I'm thinking about doing.**

**Finally, I want to thank everyone for reading and for those reviews, there are just a few but it makes me really happy to see then.**

**So, that's all I have to say until Wednesday!**


	4. Sorry

So, I guess I lied about posting it on Wednesday, I have a huge writer's block and I can't think straight. I have a lot of work and sketching a new portion of a comic I'm doing now. So, maybe... just maybe I'll post it this weekend, but don't expect much. SO sorry again...


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